Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-12-28
ABOUT WARM DRINKS.


ABOUT WARM DRINKS. ...s
whs They. should Be Eeservsd for Old
Il N aud sMiddle-Aged Persons.
China and India comprise more than
ene-haH tho worlds population. Hnny
wsaAer is expressed at this concentra-
tieA Of people in countries that we
generally consider seni-barbarous, a
possible explanation is to be found in
the fact that they were earliest in in
Predicting warm drink to the world.
Say what hygienists may Of the harm
euiness of tea and coffee, it is a fact
that the countries that use them most
are increasing in population more
vapidiv than any other parts If this
globe. and have apparently always
done 50. It is scarcely supposable that
tea is itself beneficial. as its active
principal is a poison. But it is. the
world over, the drink that is nearly
always taken warm.
Death and cold are more nearly
allied than we are apt to suppose. A
few special diseases require heat for
thoir development and propagation.
But the outward heat in fevcrs is only,
in most cases, a reverse of the natural.
internal warmth which is then thrown
TO the outside. leaving the vital organs
to chill Whenever this occurs, death
follows as matter-of- course. Most
physicians know that this. in great
many eases, is the condition under
which, death comes. In old people, or
others whose vitality has been greatly
1esseaed. the shrewd doctor regards
the coming of winter and cold weather
each year as critical periods in every
aged persons existence. The express
sion is frequently heard, that if an aged
persen lives through winter, his or her
chances will be good for another year.
In eases of sickness. warm drinks
have probably ALWAYS been prescribed.
In fevers alone, cold water is some-
times preferable, when there is suffi-
oient strength and vitality to get up a
reaction. But even here the object is
warmth rather than cold. Whenever
the patient is so debilitated that the
reaction does not come, cold drinks
are always injurious. This applies in
many cases of continued sickness. and
to aged persons. These, us rule,
should be encouraged to drink warm
drinks, especially in winter Or at night.
Hot drinks are themselves stinu-
1a.ins by heat alone. Hot water as
medicine is often better than drugs.
This is especially true in cases of
di.rhea Or dysentery, or when the
stomach is overloaded with food that it
can not digest. The heat thus directly
furnished is generally needed. for the
effect of each of these ailments is to
leave the stomach too cold. Perhaps
this reliance on artificial heat as a
stimulus to the vital organs m:y become
in itself facilitating iflong continued.
Too much wrapping up and coddling
in warm rooms is not 80 healthful for
the vigorous as active, out-of-door ex-
ercises. We do not say for the young.
because generally small children need
more protection from cold than they
get But the rule is good one never
to accustom the young to warm drinks,
either tea or coffee. Reserve these for
the aged or those who have passed mid
die life, taking care not to let them
drink any thing much above blood heat
except in sudden emergencies, when
the system seems to require stimu-
aants.
Excessively cod drinks are an abom-
ination to the stomach. The habit Of
using ice water is the cause of an i'm.
mense amount of summer sickness.
Ice IS often impure, though looking as
transparent as glass. If got from ponds,
as it often is, it is quite likely to contain
germs of disease that were in the water
before freezing. No one should think
of drinking melted ice before fltering,
unlees it is made from water pure
enough for drinking before it is frozen.
Tho use of ices or of ice-cold foods in
GUNNER, tempting though they be as
delicaoies, is responsible for many
deaths, especially of those whose stom-
achs are debilitated. Even cold milk il
injurious, especially if made ice cold by
being surrounded with ice to make the
cream rise. 1t is safer to warn, cold
milk before drinking it, and this is best
done by turning eaoh gh hot water in it
to take the chill of. This also dilutes
it sufficiently to prevent the curd form.
ing in a solid mass, as it does on many
delicate stomachs, to which milk is al
ways an irritant.
One caution in the use of hot drinks
or foods is not to allow them to come
in contact with the teeth much above
the natural temperature. Drinking very
hot tea or coffee ruins mora teeth than
almost any thing else. In special cases
very hot drinks are allowable; but
usually blood heat is better tempera-
ture for food or drink than any other:
Extremes of hot or cold are allowable
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